Chapter 111-19 Electronic Transmission of New and Changed Registration Information

Section
3503.09 of the Revised Code
requires the secretary of state to adopt rules for the electronic transmission
by designated agencies, offices of deputy registrars of motor vehicles, public
high schools and vocational schools, public libraries, and offices of county
treasurers, where applicable, of name and residence changes for voter
registration records in the statewide voter registration database. The law also
requires the secretary of state to adopt rules for the purpose of improving the
speed of processing new voter registrations that permit information from a
voter registration application received by a designated agency or an office of
deputy registrar of motor vehicles to be made available electronically, in
addition to requiring the original voter registration application to be
transmitted to the applicable board of elections under sections
3503.10 and
3503.11 of the Revised Code.
Accordingly, these rules address requirements for transmitting electronically
voter registration applications for new and updated voter registrations.

(A)
"Designated agency" means an office or agency in the
state that provides public assistance or that provides state-funded programs
primarily engaged in providing services to persons with disabilities and that
is required by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to implement a
program designed and administered by the secretary of state for registering
voters, or any other public or government office or agency that implements a
program designed and administered by the secretary of state for registering
voters, including the department of job and family services, the program
administered under section
3701.132 of the Revised Code by
the department of health, the department of mental health, the department of
developmental disabilities, the rehabilitation services commission, and any
other agency the secretary of state designates. Designated agency does not
include public high schools and vocational schools, public libraries, or the
office of a county treasurer.

(B)
"Other
registration agency" means a public high school or vocational school, a public
library or the office of a county treasurer or other office or agency that is
permitted or required to conduct voter registration activities pursuant to
applicable sections of the Ohio Revised Code.

(C)
"Deputy
registrar of motor vehicles" has the same meaning as office of deputy registrar
of motor vehicles as either may be described in Chapter 4503. of the Revised
Code.

(D)
"National Voter Registration Act of 1993" also known
as NVRA and the Motor Voter Act means
Public Law
103-31, 107 Stat. 77,
42 U.S.C.
1973gg.

(E)
"Extensible
Markup Language" or "XML" is a set of rules for encoding documents in
machine-readable form, defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the
world wide web consortium (W3C).

(F)
"Facsimile" is a
copy or reproduction of a document transmitted over a telephone line.

(G)
"Portable Document Format" or "PDF" is an open standard for document exchange
transmitted, for purposes of these rules, by electronic mail. PDF is an open
file format specification developed by adobe systems.

(H)
"Voter
registration application" includes both new voter registration applications and
applications to update an elector's name or residence address, whether by use
of a form or data entry by a designated agency, other registration agency or
deputy registrar of motor vehicles.

(I)
"Voter
registration application form" means a paper form used to register to vote or
to update an elector's name or residence.

(J)
"Elector" has
the same meaning as division (N) of section
3501.01 of the Revised Code;
that is, a person having the qualifications provided by law to be entitled to
vote.

(A)
Every designated
agency, other registration agency, and deputy registrar of motor vehicles shall
accept completed voter registration application forms, regardless of whether a
form was distributed by the designated agency, other registration agency, or
deputy registrar of motor vehicles. Original voter registration application
forms shall be transmitted to the board of elections for the county in which
the agency or deputy registrar is located. Each designated agency and the
appropriate board of elections shall establish a method by which voter
registration application forms are transmitted to that board of elections
within five business days after being accepted by the agency.

(B)
The secretary of
state shall supply to the designated agencies, other registration agencies, and
deputy registrars of motor vehicles, instructions for the electronic
transmission of voter registration applications to the secretary of state, who
shall require each designated agency, other registration agency or deputy
registrar of motor vehicles when transmitting voter registration applications
electronically to the secretary of state to transmit an identifier for data
relating to each new voter registration application form that shall be used by
boards of elections to match the electronic data to the original voter
registration application form and shall require for updated registrations a
statement of verification by the agency or deputy registrar as required in
paragraph (D) of this rule.

(C)
The designated
agency, other registration agency, or deputy registrar of motor vehicles may
place the identifier to be used to match the electronic data with the original
voter registration application forms in the upper left corner of the original
voter registration application form, but in no instance shall the identifier
indicate the identity of the agency transmitting the form, or mask in any way
the information supplied by the elector on the original voter registration
application form.

(D)
Any designated agency, other registration agency, or
deputy registrar of motor vehicles that receives a voter registration
application shall, upon and in accordance with instructions from the secretary
of state, electronically transmit the application to the secretary of state
within two business days after being accepted. In the case of an application to
update an elector's name or residence, "receipt of a voter registration
application" may consist of the entry or creation of electronic data in a
format approved by the secretary of state. In such case, the agency or deputy
registrar shall include with the record a statement that the elector's identity
was verified at the time of the entry or creation of the elector's updated
electronic data. Voter registration applications shall be transmitted to the
secretary of state by one of the following methods:

(1)
Extensible
markup language format (XML) according to XML specifications and according to
instructions provided by the secretary of state;

(2)
Portable
document format (PDF) and electronic mail according to instructions that may be
provided by the secretary of state; or

(3)
Facsimile
according to instructions that may be provided by the secretary of state.

(E)
Voter registration applications shall be transmitted
according to instructions from the secretary of state by the highest degree of
electronic capacity possessed by the designated agency, other registration
agency, or deputy registrar of motor vehicles, with XML format being the
highest degree and facsimile being the lowest degree of electronic
capacity.

(F)
In the event that the designated agency, other
registration agency or deputy registrar of motor vehicles is able to transmit
voter registration applications only by facsimile, the lowest degree of
electronic capacity, the secretary of state may instruct the agency or deputy
registrar to make its electronic transmissions directly to the appropriate
boards of elections, and the boards of elections shall accept the same in such
electronic format and compare them with the voter registration application
forms received from designated agencies, other registration agencies and deputy
registrars of motor vehicles.

(A)
The secretary of
state shall, within three business days of receipt of a voter registration
application from a designated agency, other registration agency, or deputy
registrar of motor vehicles, verify the data for information required by rule
111-19-03 of the Administrative
Code, and transmit the application by the highest degree of electronic capacity
available or possible to the appropriate board of elections with instructions
for verifying the data and for updating the board's records of registered
voters in the county.

(B)
When transmitting voter registration applications
received from designated agencies, other registration agencies and deputy
registrars of motor vehicles to boards of elections, the secretary of state
shall include, in addition to the unique identifier that was supplied by the
agency or deputy registrar for each voter registration application, "a source
identifier" of the agency or deputy registrar that supplied the voter
registration application, and also inform boards of elections that the boards
must keep confidential the source identifier designating the identity of the
agency through which the person registered to vote or updated his or her
registration as required by section
3503.10 of the Revised
Code.

(C)
Except as required by the secretary of state for
record-keeping purposes, the identity of an agency through which a person
registered to vote or updated the person's voter registration records, and
information relating to a declination to register to vote made in connection
with a voter registration application issued by a designated agency, other
registration agency, or deputy registrar of motor vehicles shall be
confidential.

Each designated agency, other
registration agency, and deputy registrar of motor vehicles shall require its
employees to be trained to administer the voter registration program, including
the electronic transmission program prescribed under this chapter, which
training program shall be developed in consultation with the secretary of
state, in order to provide to each applicant who wishes to register to vote and
who accepts assistance, the same degree of assistance with regard to completion
of the voter registration application as is provided by the agency with regard
to the completion of its own form. Any employee receiving such training shall
not be entitled to receive any additional compensation for performing such
duties.

Each board of elections shall require
its employees to be trained to administer the electronic transmission program
prescribed under this chapter. The secretary of state shall provide such
training to boards of elections. Any employee receiving such training shall not
be entitled to receive additional compensation for performing such
duties.

(A)
When a board of elections receives by electronic means
from the secretary of state a new or updated voter registration that has been
received by the secretary from a designated agency, other registration agency,
or deputy registrar of motor vehicles, the board shall maintain the electronic
transmission in a separate file or enter it in its database as a pending status
until it compares the electronic record received from the secretary of state
with the voter registration application form received from the designated
agency, other registration agency, or deputy registrar of the bureau of motor
vehicles and verifies, as required by federal and state law, the qualifications
of a new registrant or an elector who has applied for a change of name or
residence for which there is a voter registration application form, before the
voter registration application is added to the statewide voter registration
database.

(B)
The board of elections shall review and maintain
completed voter registration application forms that are transmitted to the
board of elections, as required under section
3503.10 or
3503.11 of the Revised
Code.

(C)
If the board of elections does not receive an original
completed new voter registration application within ten days after the board of
elections received the electronic transmission of that new voter registration
application from the secretary of state, the board of elections shall contact
the designated agency, other registration agency, or deputy registrar of motor
vehicles to determine whether the original completed new voter registration
application has been transmitted. If no original completed new voter
registration application form is received for a new voter registration
application within twenty days after the board of elections received the
electronic transmission of the new voter registration application from the
secretary of state, the board of elections shall send to the elector a new
voter registration application form to complete and return to the board of
elections in order to obtain the elector's original signature. If the original
signature is received after the deadline to register for a particular election
but more than fourteen days before the election, the elector shall be entitled
to vote at that election. Nothing in this rule causes a new voter registration
application to permit an individual to be registered to vote without an
original signature being supplied to the board of elections.

(D)
In the case of
voter registration applications where the elector has updated his or her name
or residence address and where no original voter registration application form
is required by law, the board shall include an identifier for such voter
registration application that represents the status that no original voter
registration application form was required or supplied by the designated
agency, other registration agency, or deputy registrar of motor vehicles, and
that the elector's information was verified by the agency or deputy registrar
and by the secretary of state, as required by law.

(E)
When a board of
elections receives an electronic transmission of a voter registration
application from the secretary of state that has been received by the secretary
from a designated agency, other registration agency, or deputy registrar of
motor vehicles, the board of elections shall retain the secretary's source
identifier for the voter registration application and the unique identifier
supplied by the designated agency, other registration agency, or deputy
registrar of motor vehicles for the voter registration application. The unique
identifier supplied by the designated agency, other registration agency, or
deputy registrar of motor vehicles shall be used by the board of elections to
match the electronic data to original voter registration application forms for
purposes of comparison and verification and to qualify the voter registration
data to be entered into the statewide voter registration database. The board of
elections shall not cause the source identifier to appear on the original voter
registration application form and shall redact the unique identifier to be
redacted from public view of a voter registration application form.

The secretary of state and the boards
of elections, their employees and agents, and any other person acting in
concert or participation with them or any one of them, shall not permit any
direct electronic connection between a designated agency, other registration
agency, or deputy registrar of motor vehicles and the statewide voter
registration database.